The Resurrection of our Lord - G - 2013 - Christus Resurrexit

The Resurrection of our Lord

March 31 , 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Isaiah 65:17-25           1 Corinthians 15:19-26           Luke 24:1-12

He is Risen, He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!  Amen!  Our text today are the readings just read, especially these words, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ, He is Risen!  He is risen indeed.  And with his rising, we have hope in our own eternal life.  We know that the sin of our life is defeated.  We know that the vast chasm that had separated us from God no longer can keep us from our Lord and Savior.  O death where is thy victory?  O death where is thy sting?  In Christ’s glorious death and resurrection, we are victors. 

It has been a hard fought battle.  We have all been involved in the war between God and sin.  We know firsthand the casualties.  For sin has always been knocking at our door.  And yes, dear friends, we have been the ones who have been steeped in sin, stinking of death.  We have sinned, as we just confessed, in thought word and deed.  We’ve been hateful.  We’ve been robbers.  We’ve been murderers and adulterers.  We’ve coveted, lied and gossiped.  Our families have fallen apart, and our relationships with neighbors have been in shambles.  And these things are only in our relationships with others.

In our relationship with God we have despised preaching, despised church, we’ve cursed and sworn wrongly using God’s name, often pairing it together with words that would make milk curdle.  And above all else, we have relegated our relationship with God to the back burner, we haven’t made God number one, instead trusting in any number of false Gods. 

We’ve sinned – no doubt about it.  We continue to sin – it’s true.  And we’ve seen firsthand time and again the consequences for that sin – sickness and suffering.  Hurt and pain.  Death and loss.  It is a sting of pain that we have all known too well.  And when we deal with death there is a certain permanent feeling to it.  Our loved one seems to be gone forever.

But in fact that is not the truth.  But, in fact, sin is destroyed, and along with it death.  Its right there in our text, that’s what St. Paul says.  “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.”  And not only that, but Christ is the first fruits of those risen from the dead.  That means that there will be more that just Jesus who will rise.  There are more than just Jesus who have defeated sin and its sting of death.  Jesus is the first and we shall follow. 

That’s what we see in our Gospel lesson.  The women go to the tomb sure to find a body, a dead man, and instead they find angels who declare “He is Risen – he is not here!”  Peter than goes to the tomb, running, sure again to find the sting of death but instead finds an empty tomb with only Christ’s burial clothes. 

Its an indisputable historical fact.  It was independently verified.  In fact Jesus was raised from the dead.  And in fact, you too will be.  Your sins are forgiven by his Good Friday death.  You have already died with Jesus in the waters of Baptism, or do you not know that all who have been baptized in to Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  You died with him, you were buried with him, and in fact you also have already been risen from the dead with him. 

You see Jesus death was to forgive your sins.  And his rising from the dead means that in fact your sins are forgiven.  And then to top it all off, he invites you to partake in the sacrifice of his own body and blood here today.  He gives to you hidden in bread his very real crucified and risen body to eat, he gives to you in with and under wine his very real blood to drink – both for forgiveness of your sins.  To take them away for ever.

Dear friends its Easter.  The day we celebrate the fact – the historical truth – the reality – that Jesus has been raised from the dead, and that we too will one day rise again, sins forgiven, and live forever in heave.  And the proof for it all is this, Christ is Risen!  He is Risen indeed.  Alleluia.  Amen!  

Maundy Thursday 2013

Edited from a Sermon by Pastor Brent Kuhlman

St. Luke 22:7-20

“This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me  .  . . . This cup is the new covenant (testament) in my blood which is poured out for you.” 

Whose Words are these?  They are not mine.  They are not yours.  They are the Lord’s!  The Words of the Lord who created everything by means of His Word!  Through His speaking!  His speaking that does and gives precisely what He says.   Like at the beginning when He spoke “Let there be . . .” and there was light and everything in creation!  This is the same Lord who speaks to the dead.  ‘Talitha koum (Little girl get up!)’” and, “‘Lazarus, come out!’” 

Was His speaking a nothing?  Were His Words just the words of a man?  No!  They are divine – Holy Spirit filled – words of power!  His words do exactly what they say! 

Now on the night before He dies the Lord Jesus draws up His last will and testament.  He is of sound mind.  He is quite sober.  He knows what He is doing.  Everything is very deliberate and in order.  From the directions about all the preparations of the room to what He does and says regarding the Passover meal’s bread and wine. 

Will you let the Lord Jesus have His say?  Or will you dare to interrupt Him?  Adjust His Words to what you think He should have said?  Would you presume to appoint yourself as a preacher with better words than Jesus?  Preach your own sermon as an upgrade to Jesus’ Words?  A Lord’s Supper Version 2.1? 

It goes like this, “The bread only symbolizes Jesus’ body!  The cup of wine is simply a symbol of His blood.  In other words, all that’s there on the altar and in my mouth are bread and wine   The body and blood of Jesus aren’t there!  Can’t be because it just doesn’t make sense to me.!”

Is that what Jesus said?  Of course not!  Not even close!  You’ve subtracted!  You’ve taken away what He clearly proclaims!  “Is” means “is”!  The Lord Jesus, in His last will and testament categorically proclaims that the bread IS His body and that the cup of wine IS the new testament in His blood!   

He tells you what it is.  He preaches what He gives.  What He says He gives!  What He gives is what He says!  Lord Jesus gets the first and last word!  Not you!  He has His say-so!  Not you!   It is the Lord’s Supper!  Not your Supper!  He emphatically says that the Bread IS His Body.  He definitively declares that the cup of Wine is His Blood.  To be eaten and to be drunk with your mouth!

Or if you don’t like Lord’s Supper 2.1, perhaps you know Lord’s Supper Version 2.2? 

Or maybe it’s about sacrifice, the Lord’s Supper is me giving back to Jesus, me earning something from him.  Look how holy I am – see how many great things I’ve done!  I come to the Lord’s Supper, look at this great work I do as I come up to the altar rail.  Look at my work, at my life, and how by coming I’m doing such a great thing for Jesus – lessening his work by my holy life.  The Lord’s supper is only good because of my work, my belief, and my thought!

Wow!  That’s quite a Lord’s Supper 2.2!  I have to ask you again.  Where did you get all that from the Lord’s Words?  Is that what the Lord Jesus says?  Of course He doesn’t!  You’ve added to what He said!  Like Eve did in her conversation with Satan in Eden about eating from the forbidden middle Tree!  And you know how all that ended!  In total disaster for Adam and Eve!  And for all their descendants!  So why in the world would you want to pull another Adam and Eve and add to the Lord’s Words?   

It’s time that you die to all this thinking and practicing that the Lord’s Supper is something that you do for God!  Good grief!  That’s getting the Sacrament totally backwards!  Jesus is very clear that His Supper is “for you” and not for His Father!  It is pure gift from Jesus to you! 

When He institutes this Sacrament as His last will and testament He is talking – proclaiming – preaching TO HIS DISCIPLES!  “Take this bread and eat it.  This is my body GIVEN FOR YOU.  Take this cup and drink from it.  It is the new testament in my blood poured out FOR YOU.”   “For you” talk is gift talk!  His Body and His Blood are for you!

THE LORD’S SUPPER IS NOT WHAT WE DO, GIVE OR SACRIFICE TO GOD!  IT IS THE LORD’S GIVING – HIS PREACHING – HIS HANDING OVER AND GIVING OF THE GOSPEL TO YOU!

Finally, when Jesus asserts that the cup of wine is the New Testament in His blood, His point is that God’s prophecy through Jeremiah is at hand!  Right before your very eyes every time you go to the Sacrament!  “‘The time is coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah . . .  This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel . . .  I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God and they will be my people . . . For I WILL FORGIVE THEIR WICKEDNESS AND WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE.’”   

 “I will make a new covenant . . .  I will be their God . . .  I will forgive their sins!”  Jesus does and gives these promises in the Lord’s Supper.  For you!  In Matthew’s account of the Lord’s Supper Jesus says about the cup of wine:  “ ‘Drink from it, all of you.  This my blood of the new testament which is poured out for many FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS,” (Matthew 26:27-28)! 

This is how Jesus is God for you!  His Body and His Blood He gives you to eat and drink with the promise that all your sin is forgiven. Those are the Words of the Lord Jesus who died for you! He says so!  He does not lie!  It is most certainly true!

Happy eating and drinking tonight according to the Lord’s Words! 

In the name of Jesus.

Holy Week Greetings from President Harrison

Please note the following Holy Week Schedule:

Thursday - Maundy Thursday service at St. John 7:15 p.m.
Friday - Cross Processional meeting at Convent at 12:00 p.m.
Friday - Tre Ore Service at Immanuel 12:15 (following processional)
Friday - Tenebrae Vespers at Immanuel 7:15 p.m.
Saturday - Easter Vigil Service at Immaneul 7:15 p.m.
Sunday - Easter Sunrise Service at St. John's 6:30 a.m.
Sunday - Easter Breakfast at St. John's 7:15 a.m.
Regular Service times at the churches for Easter Services as well.

God's Blessings on your Holy Week

Lent 5 - G - 2013 - The Heir

The Fifth Sunday of Lent

March 17, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Isaiah 43:16-21                       Philippians 3:4b-14                 Luke 20:9-20

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God the Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words, “This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  A man built a vineyard, and rented it to some renters with the promise to receive some payment for the rental when the harvest of fruit finally came in.  The vines were planted by the renter.  They were cultivated by the renter.  The vines were pruned by the renter.  The renter raised his family at the vineyard, and they worked along side one another as if it was their own land.  They took pride in their work, and began to call the vineyard their own.  The vines began to produce fruit, because the renter cared for the vines and the harvest began.  The harvest was plentiful, the crop was good, and finally after much hard work, the vineyard was in the black, running a profit.  

And it is at this time, that the owner sends his messenger from another country.  Rent was due.  There were terms set up originally after all.  The owner had set the agreement, and now the time had come to pay.  But the renter gets greedy – he’d been running the vineyard as his own.  The owner was far away, so far away it was almost as if he didn’t exist at all.  “Why should I pay?” the renter said. “I’ll just keep it for myself.  I’ll pad my bank account – the owner can’t do anything about it anyways.”  And with this pride and sin, he beat the messenger, and sent him back to where he came. 

The pride of the renter increased.  “Look how powerful I am, he said, I told the owner’s messenger where to go, I told him what’s what.  I see what I want and I take it.”  But the owner sent another messenger, again beaten and turned away.  And a third.  The renter really desires to send a message this time, and wounds the messenger before sending him back with a messenger.  And then the messenger is sent back with these words, “Back off Owner.  I’m the master of this vineyard.  I’ve raised my family here, I’ve done what I’ve wanted.  I’ve planted, cultivated and harvested.  And what I’ve earned is mine. 

The owner finally sends his beloved son to collect the rent that is his.  When the evil renter sees the son coming, he smiles to himself.  It’s the heir.  I’ll kill him.  Then I will be the master of the vineyard.  Then it will be mine for good.  Then I’ll be the all powerful one here.  I’ll be my own master – with no owner telling me what to do, or demanding what he wants in my life.  So the son is dragged out of town, and killed – all because of the renters greed, hate, and malice. 

Jesus tells us this parable, not because it’s a nice story, or because he has some interest in the running of ancient Israelite vineyards, but rather because it’s a story that isn’t even about vineyards at all.  Its about himself.  A story about how he himself, the beloved son, would be received by his own people. 

The people of this world, you and me included, were given this world to care for by our Heavenly Father.  Its true.  God gave Adam and Eve the world and said “be caretakers for my beautiful creation.  But do not eat of the tree in the center of the garden.”  As soon as God turned his back, Adam and Eve immediately disobeyed, just as you do when you think God’s not looking.  They ate, and sin and death entered our world. 

Throughout the ages, In many times and in various ways, God spoke to our forefather through the prophets.  “Repent.”  They said, “God will fix sin, so trust in him.”  And throughout the ages, time and time again, these prophets were beaten and killed, some even in the “Holy temple” God’s own house.  We stood by complicitly as these terrible things happened.  God’s word was abandoned, and our own words, our own wants and our own desires were proclaimed instead. 

And finally, God sent his Son.  And we know what happens to him, for it is Lent.  The season we look ahead to Good Friday, to Golgotha, to the cross, and to the death of the Son at the hands of sinners, like you and like me.  We kill Jesus, rather than listen to his words.  We kill the Son of God, because we have no place for him in our lives.  We cause him to suffer, and we smile and we laugh as we do so, because we think that with him gone, we will finally be our own masters.  And so the Son of God is crucified, and we are at fault. 

But our plan backfires.  Because the Son doesn’t stay dead.  He rises again, he is glorified, and all authority on heaven and earth is given to him because of his glorious resurrection.  That means authority over you, over your sin, over you guilt, over your shame.  And using that authority that Son offers you forgiveness, forgiveness given in his word and in his sacraments. 

He speaks and says, I forgive you for despising the preaching done by my messengers through the year.  I forgive you for turning your back on me.  I forgive you for every sin you have committed.  Search your heart, your life, your soul, each of those sins that plague and guilt you, I take away!

How, by my death, yes the death at your hands.  In that death, I killed your sins, O baptized ones, I died your death, I suffered your punishment, and you do become an heir, a heir along with me, and now all that is mine is yours, including heaven, forgiveness, life and salvation.  All that I have is yours now.  My body?  Take it and eat it.  My blood, take it and drink it, they are yours for forgiveness.  My eternal home in heaven?  Live it in it always.  My righteousness and holiness, be dressed in it through baptismal waters.  My life now is your life.  My father is now your father.  All that belongs to me, belongs to you. 

Dear friends, its lent.  Turn from your sin.  Trust in the one you killed, but now is raised.  Be forgiven of your sins, in the blood of Jesus.  In his name, Amen.  

Lent 4 - G - 2013 - A Tale of Two Sons

The Fourth Sunday of Lent

March 10, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Isaiah 12:1-6               2 Corinthians 5:16-21             Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Our text for today is one that is well known to all of us.  The Prodigal Son desires his inheritance early, takes it, and goes off to the ancient version of Las Vegas, where he quickly gambles away all his money in what the bible very kindly calls, “loose living,” a life style our modern society is very familiar with. 

When the money is gone, the fun ends for the prodigal as well.  His posse of friends runs off when the money is gone.  The bars and clubs won’t honor his credit or let him in the door.  He has creditors filing suit against him.  He ends up working on a pig farm, a profession considered unclean for an Israelite, desiring to eat the foot that the pigs chow down on. 

Rather than wallow his life away, the son repents, the son trusts in the mercy of his father.  With his head hung low, he decides to return to be a servant for his father, knowing that he will then at least have enough food to eat.  Shamefully he returns.  But upon his arrival, his father runs out to greet him in his repentance, embracing him and forgiving him before he could even ask for mercy.  The fatted calf is killed, the Father’s feast is set, and the rejoicing begins. 

We know, and we have heard how this is exactly the way our heavenly father deals with repentant sinners.  With mercy.  With forgiveness.  With blessings and life.  The sins of those forgiven by the father are gone, not even a memory.  The prodigals are welcomed back with grace and forgiveness forever. 

But the truth is, so often we aren’t really the prodigal son are we?  So often we are the son who stays behind while our brother goes off on his sinful path.  We remain behind, certain that our brother the sinner will get what’s coming to him, while we will be the favored one who will be blessed.  After all, we’re the ones in church every week.  We’re the ones who listen to God, we’re the ones who obey.  Don’t believe it, just look at how much goes in the offering tray from me, compared to that sinner over there.  Look at how holy my life appears outwardly compared to that adulterer over there.  Look how much better I am.  I am perfect, incomparable to that poor miserable sinner.  And as we repeat these words to ourselves, we truly begin to believe them.

And then that cursed prodigal returns into our world.  Repentant, desiring mercy, but knowing he deserves none.  And as the older brother in our text today, we want justice.  We want fairness!  Yes, you can return dear prodigal, but just know you will always be less than me.  I’ve never strayed as you have.  I’ve never sinned as you have, so get in your subservient place, and bow down to the holy me.  You see, so often, in our sin, we’re not prodigal, but judgmental.

And while we are all high and mighty, we’ve failed to notice who the father has shown mercy to.  The sinner.  The repentant one.  The prodigal who has returned, with a contrite spirit, and has been forgiven.  The repentant sinner is embraced by the father, and is a son again, same as you and I.

Instead of having to earn trust, he is forgiven.  Instead of making penance he is forgiven.  Wait a second God, what gives?  Why should he receive the same treatment as me?  Why should a sinner be treated as a son?  Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command.  I’ve been a Sunday School teacher, I’ve been a trustee, I’ve cared for the church, and never have you thanked me.  I’ve been to voter’s meetings, I’ve shoveled and mowed, I’ve done all sorts of work for this church!  Don’t I deserve more than one who wandered away?  Don’t I get a bigger piece of the pie?  Don’t I get more recognition from God, won’t I be higher in heaven?

These are the same questions the son asks his father in our text today. Our text says, “he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 

And the Father, our heavenly father, answers with compassion, and with truth to us in our pride.  Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.  What’s God’s is yours.  What’s yours is God.  You are a member of the family of God, and all the blessings of heaven belong to you today, here now.  They have been given to you by Christ.  You may receive the washing in his blood.  You may eat and drink for forgiveness of sins.  You may eat the lamb who has been slain. 

But you should rejoice also in your brother’s repentance – and not in your own high and mighty attitude.  Rather, you ought to repent as well.  For you see, you’re no different than he.  Really you’re not.  Your sin is as great.  You sin is a bad, your sin is as filthy.  If you haven’t given away your inheritance with prostitutes, you have still despised your father and his mercy. 

So repent, dear friends, just as the prodigal has.  Repent of your sin, turn away from them, and despise not the mercy of your father. 

For your Father shows mercy to you as well.  Your father sent you other brother to secure it for you – no not the prodigal, but a third brother, the one called faithful and true – Jesus.  He is the fattened calf that is slaughtered for the feast.  Your father sent him to earn mercy for you, to suffer in your place, to grant forgiveness for all sins, yes, even yours.  To give you life in the face of death, and to destroy the power of Satan in your life.  And this he does for you, dear sinful brothers, by his work on the cross, by his bloodshed, by his death, by his suffering.  He does it for you, dear friends, so that you may be welcomed back by the father, in peace and in comfort.  He does it, so that your sin may be forgiven. 

You are no longer a prodigal son – in Christ you are forgiven.  And, dear friends, you are no longer a judgmental sinful son – in Christ you are forgiven.  You are set free in Jesus.  You are a true child, in Christ.  So come partake of the forgiveness earned in Christ.  Be received into your Father’s family – hear his words, “your sins are forgiven, in the blood of the lamb of God who takes them away forever.”  This is your promise.  Amen!

March Newsletter

Dear Friends,

We are in the season of Lent – which for the early church was not only a time for repentance, but also a time of instruction in the faith leading to baptism and official acceptance in to the church.  Likewise, in our own congregation, confirmation is just around the corner for five of our young people.  As we get closer and closer to the big day for them, they have asked more and more frequently, “Pastor, do we really have to memorize all this stuff?”

Their question is about the catechism.  Do we really have to memorize this whole book, and if so, why?  What’s the point?  What’s the big deal?  Why put in the time and effort, especially with so many other things going on? 

To answer this question, I’d like to share with you about a retired pastor in our circuit that many of you probably know.  Pastor Dale Young served as a pastor for many years.  A few years ago, Pastor Young had a stroke that left part of his body paralyzed, as well as taking away his ability to speak.  He communicates mostly with hand gestures and pointing. 

However, recently we held our Circuit Winkel (pastors’ meeting) at the nursing home where Pastor Young is living.  While there, he was able to sing along with a hymn we sang, as well as recite the Creed and Lord’s Prayer.  He said them just as clearly and loudly as the rest of us.  Even though he cannot have a “normal” conversation in the way we can, he still can recite his catechism faithfully.

It isn’t just Pastor Young.  Many of our shut-ins that I visit can’t remember my name, their age, their family’s names, or many other things we take for granted.  However, when we start into our Communion Service, they can remember every word of Confession and Absolution, the Creed, and Lord’s Prayer.  Some even mouth the Words of Institution along with me.  They still know what their faith is; they still know their catechism. 

The reason they remember is because of the way your brain works.  I’m not a brain doctor by any stretch of the imagination, but a quick study explains how this works.  Memorization store things in different parts of your brain through the repetition.  This is called rote learning.  Rote learning is how we learn the words to songs we often hear on the radio, and has also been used by some to play musical instruments, or memorize entire books or numeric equations.  It’s also how each one of us learned how to speak, or learned vocabulary to another language in school.

The same method can be used in our faith.  Speaking the words of the catechism over and over and over throughout your entire life permanently engrains them into your memory, allowing you to recall it far into your future.  This faith then is a part of you and your life even until your last days, when other memories become foggy.  That’s why we emphasize so many years of Christian education and catechism memorization.  We want our kids to recite the catechism dozens and dozens of times in their Sunday school and Catechism careers. 

God created our brains to work in such a way that we are able to memorize things more easily and quickly when we are very young, even before we begin school and catechism.  The same time we are learning the very basics of language skills, we ought to be receiving our first instruction in the faith.  Parents and grandparents should be teaching the catechism and reading the Bible (or a story Bible) to children as often as possible.  Scripture primarily gives this responsibility to the father as the head of the household.  It’s an enormous responsibility and task, but one that I know the fathers of our congregation are up to. 

“Train a child in the way that he should go, and he will never depart from it,” Scripture writes.  We work hard to teach the faith that looks to Christ for salvation, to engrain that faith in to our children’s minds, and pray ceaselessly that that faith will stick with them all the days of their lives.

So why do we make our children memorize the catechism?  Because their pastor wants to make sure that 70 years from now, when their future pastor visits them, that the faith will still be firmly with them.  I have the personal goal that our kids will learn the faith better than anyone –anyone – in southeast North Dakota. 

To that end, I’d like your help.  First, we need one more confirmation teacher for next year – to help teach our kids.  It’s a fairly simple job: I’ll supply you with the materials to teach, and if there ever is something that comes up you can’t answer, I’m available to help.  It’s a great way to serve the church – training future generations in the faith we have believed for thousands of years. 

Second, confirmation questioning is coming up in only a few short months.  I would invite you to come to support our confirmands as they recite the catechism and the other basics of the faith.  Our attendance at some of these events has waned a bit in the last few years – understandable with all the other events going on in our lives.  One of our confirmands from this year said to me point blank, “Can’t we just skip questioning?  The only people who come are our parents anyway.”  But wouldn’t it emphasize the importance of this event if we had most of the congregation show up as our confirmands confess their faith?   If you are planning on going, please let the confirmands know you’ll be there, to encourage them to work on their rote memorization.  Pray for them as well, as they continue their instruction.  Questioning will be April 28^th, at 7:00 p.m.  

To end this (rather long – yikes!) article, I’ll point you to the Books of the Month section for a few resources in teaching the faith.  There are CDs of the catechism set to fun kids’ music.  There are kids’ Bible books that faithfully point to Christ.  There are countless materials available to you.  Consider using some of them with your own family.  

Lent 3 - 2013 - G - Repent or Perish

The Third Sunday of Lent

March 4, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Ezekiel 33:7-20           1 Corinthians 10:1-13             Luke 13:1-9

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words, “unless you repent, you too will all perish.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ, It seems it is happening more and more.  Senseless tragedies where seemingly innocent people die.  162 dead as hurricane Sandy swept up the eastern seaboard, leaving a wake of destruction in its path.  26 young children murdered at Sandy Hook elementary school by a deranged murderer.  12 killed and 56 more wounded at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, bringing back memories of 15 more killed at Columbine School just a few miles away.  Earthquakes in Japan, Haiti, and Italy.  War in Afghanistan, Syria, and Lybia, protests in Egypt.  Countless fires in people’s homes, car accidents, floods, and more. 

And in it all, people who seem to have so much ahead of them, taken in an instant.  So many innocent dead, leaving us with all sorts questions.  How could God allow these terrible things to happen?  Why did one die, and another live?  What difference was there in any person?  Were any of those involved bigger sinners than others?  Were some more deserving than others?  Why did these many people die such tragic and gruesome deaths?

These questions are difficult.  These questions do not have easy answers, answers that we like to hear.  These questions are the questions that have been asked throughout the ages.  Every time there is a tragedy people turn to God with questions too big for us to answer.  And that’s exactly what happens in our text.  A tragedy had befallen Jerusalem only a little while before, when a group of Galilean Jews had been rioting in Jerusalem while offering sacrifices, Pontius Pilate, the Governor, had them brutally killed and their own blood poured on the altar at the temple.  Many died, many families were left weeping and mourning.  How could this have happened?

And so the ancient people turned to God as we did, asking Jesus bluntly about this tragedy.  And Jesus gives them a difficult to hear answer.  “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?  I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.  Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them-- do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

In other words, Jesus says, you are all sinners, you’re all guilty, and unless you repent you all deserve the same death the same punishment the same horrible end.  For the punishment for sin – all sin, sin great or sin small – is death.  As St. Paul would later write, the very wages or payment for sin is death.  All who sin will die.  Some in riots.  Some in earthquakes and shootings. Some with cancer and heart problems.  But every single sinner, you and me included, will face death. 

And the death of sin isn’t just a temporal thing.  It is an eternal thing.  For sin doesn’t just bring temporal death, but eternal death and hell.  In sin, one is dead forever.  In sin, death is a permanent event, something to be dreaded and feared.  Something that destroys and hurts.  Because of sin, death is our dreaded enemy – it’s the very power of Satan. 

So what does Jesus say?  We are all sinners.  We all deserve death, and we all will face it.  But Jesus also says there is a way out.  Repent.  Admit your sin.  Admit your wrong.  Admit that on your own you have nowhere to go except to death.  That on your own, you fail time and again, and have no hope.  Repent and turn away from your sin! 

That’s what the season of Lent is all about.  Repentance!  Turning from sin.  That’s why the church is dressed in purple, its why the church dims down the glory of the its worship services.  To show our repentance, to show our sorrow over our sin, to show the sorrow that death brings to the sinner.  And to show our sincere desire to change our hearts.

But dear friends, repentance is not enough.  For no act that you can do would erase your sin, or the death that it can bring.  Not even the most outwardly “holy” person you know can repent enough to take the power of death from our lives.  We need something more.  We need a savior, we need a rescue.  We need someone to take our sin away. 

And so we turn to Jesus, or rightly speaking, he turns to us.  He declares “Repent – Yes” but realize that it is I who save you, by my own death, by my own submission to the Father’s will, by my own suffering, and bloody death.  That’s the only solution to the tragedy of this world, the only solution to sin.  The death of Jesus in your place is the only solution to our own pain and suffering, our own weakness.  Jesus takes your place in death, he suffers in your place the fullness of Hell, and he gloriously is resurrected into eternal life, promising that the same will happen to you who believe as well. 

That death and resurrection comes to you today in the promises of God’s word, the washing of rebirth in baptism, and in the reception of Christ’s crucified and risen body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.  These gifts overcome tragedy.  These gifts destroy death in all its forms.  These gifts confound the power of Satan turning him into a weak and powerless force in our world – only able to make death a temporary sting that is at the last overshadowed by the promises of eternity in heaven with Jesus. 

The blood of Christ brings life.  It brings forgiveness.  It destroys the power of death, promising for you life to the full.  Repent of your sin.  Turn from it, and receive the forgiveness of Jesus, delivered to you here today.  Repent, fear not the tragedies of this world, but trust the words and promises of Christ.  For Christ has overcome the world.  Christ had promised life.  Christ gives victory.  Amen.